1. Field of the Disclosed Embodiments
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for employing local, opportunistic Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) information to augment other source “knowledge” of local aircraft position information for improving situational awareness in areas lacking ADS-B coverage provided by other aircraft control agencies.
2. Related Art
Deployment scenarios involving unmanned aerial vehicles are increasing as the technology for local and remote control of those vehicles increases, and as government, law enforcement and other entities become aware of, and comfortable with, the capabilities and benefits of routinely employing certain unmanned aerial vehicles for certain mission types. The term “unmanned aerial vehicle(s),” as that term will be used throughout this disclosure, is intended to encompass a particular class of locally, generally line-of-sight, operated flying vehicles, including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and the related Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUASs).
Based on an anticipated exponential growth in the employment scenarios of particularly sUAS platforms, given their relative low cost, flexibility of employment and expanding capabilities, the discussion below will center around sUAS platform deployment and operating scenarios. This focus on such operations as a specific example to illustrate the benefits of the systems and methods according to this disclosure should not be construed as excluding equally germane application to all classes of unmanned aerial vehicles. The sUAS platforms referred to in this disclosure are capable of controlled flight from launch, through in-flight operations, to recovery and/or landing in a manner similar to a conventional manned aircraft or helicopter. The control schemes for these sUAS platforms may include real-time or near-real-time control of the flight profile by an operator (pilot or pilot/observer team) at a communication and control console ground control station or GCS) in constant communication with a particular sUAS. The described sUAS platforms referred to in this disclosure tend to be of limited sophistication, thereby requiring local control by an operator having line-of-sight contact with a particular sUAS platform. These operating limitations, while providing for reasonable flight safety, limit a capacity of the systems to be integrated into a broader aerial vehicle/aircraft deconfliction scheme.
A focus of development efforts for a broad array of unmanned aerial vehicles is centered on exploring operation of small, economical aerial vehicle platforms (sUAS) that may be specifically fielded to a particular task to which the unmanned aerial vehicles may be adapted. A number of competing entities have evolved their operations to providing differing levels of sophistication in sUAS platforms to support specific and evolving requirements of a broadly expanding potential customer base, including government agencies and law enforcement entities. Currently, sUAS platform capabilities are being expanded for deployment in increasing roles in many public service and public support missions, which include, but are not limited to, border surveillance, wildlife surveys, military training, weather monitoring, fire detection and monitoring, and myriad local law enforcement surveillance support missions.
A challenge to increasingly expanded employment of sUAS platforms generally in many domestic, non-military scenarios, particularly in the United States, stems from platforms not having aircrew onboard that are able (1) to detect other close and/or conflicting aerial traffic and/or (2) to effect timely maneuvers to avoid collisions based on visual- or sensor-detected proximity to such conflicting aerial traffic.
Local employment of a particular unmanned aerial vehicle tends to be autonomous. Currently, the local operator of the unmanned aerial vehicle, for example, may be generally unaware with other aerial operations in the area. As capabilities expand, the sUAS operator may be provided certain rudimentary traffic deconfliction information, but is generally only limitedly aware of other operations in a vicinity, and is generally afforded only limited capacity to coordinate or deconflict own ship operations with the operations of other sUAS platform operators in the area, and/or with local manned aircraft operations. In this regard, the immediate operation of a particular sUAS platform may be considered local, tactical employment of the particular platform. This scenario is operationally played out when one considers that the operator of the sUAS platform is in a fixed location within line of sight to the sUAS platform providing control inputs to the sUAS platform from the GCS based on observed operations of the sUAS platform, potentially augmented by an actual video feed from the sUAS platform being displayed on a display component of the GCS to aid in locally controlling mission employment of the sUAS platform.